Encouraging change through impact stories

The Brief

For the third consecutive year, Portland was engaged by the King Baudouin Foundation to develop their communications strategy for the 2019 African Development Prize announcement. The Foundation’s aim was to raise the profile of the Prize and its winners, while also encouraging African entrepreneurs to apply and drive change.

The Approach

Portland developed an integrated campaign around the story of Wecyclers, a Lagos-based waste management start up. We organised a press trip and invited international media to Lagos where the winners were announced. Media interviews for key spokespeople were arranged with a variety of global, regional and local outlets. We also produced a detailed social media strategy, built on strong and empowering imagery, with paid and organic content for Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, alongside visual aids including videos and GIFs.

The Results

Portland secured media coverage in priority international outlets such as CNN, BBC Focus on Africa, Al Jazeera and Reuters TV, as well as key Nigerian and pan-African media including Jeune Afrique, Vanguard and Business Day. On social media, we received 2.5m organic impressions on Twitter, with the majority of our engagement coming from the target markets of Nigeria, US and the UK